Three Square Meals Ch. 117

Jade could find no fault with the four-year-old's sage wisdom and hauled the screeching broodmother off the ground. With a ghastly draconic smile, she shoved the rear of the murderous creature into the vicious buzzsaws, watching as the broodmother's insectoid face contorted in agony. The children cheered Jade on, drowning out the shrill screams as their tormentor met her justly deserved fate. Unfortunately, the machine got clogged up with sticky green ichor and juddered to a halt before it finished the job, leaving the upper-half of the savagely butchered broodmother twitching in her death throes.

Slumping down on the ground, Jade heaved an exhausted sigh and began pulling the juggernaut blades from her forearms with her teeth. She grimaced and snarled with the pain, which made the children back up a few steps until they realised she wasn't going to hurt them.

"See, Timmy! I told you dwagons were real!" Lucy exclaimed, walking forward to gently pat Jade's scaled arm. She looked up at the injured green dragon with sympathy as Jade nursed her mutilated arm. "You need a bandaid... that'll make it all better."

***

John strode into the vast chamber, noting at least a dozen tunnel entrances opening into the room from all sides. The sound of thousands of skittering insectoid feet reached his sensitive ears, drowning out the colonists' footfalls as they retreated. He reasoned that if the Kirrix had been herding their prisoners down here, he must be close to a nest of some kind... and the huge glyph-inscribed doors opposite were his first guess as to its location.

First though, there was business to take care of. He needed to protect the colonists as they retreated to the starport, which obviously meant stopping the Kirrix from pursuing them up the tunnel. He wasn't worried about the fleeing Terrans being attacked, as the Kirrix would never deliberately kill potential hosts for their eggs. However, the more... noise... he made here, while threatening the nest, the more he'd draw reinforcements to his position rather than towards Jade or the escaping colonists.

The Kirrix began to pour out of the tunnels, scores quickly turning to hundreds as they followed the rallying call of... whatever insidious creature lurked in the nest. The ochre-carapaced soldiers fanned out into firing positions, shooting sprays of neutron bolts at John that quickly became a storm, the shots plinking off his shield or flying around him to blast chunks from the wall behind. All the while, more Kirrix forces rushed out to stop the interloper from penetrating any further into their subterranean domain.

John took a deep breath, closing his eyes to ready himself for the battle to come. He savoured the streams of psychic energy pouring into him from his matriarchs, feeling that eldritch power coursing through his veins and lighting up his neurons like a supernova. A warning chime on John's HUD alerted him that his shields had been knocked out, so he made a casual gesture with his hand, surrounding himself with a glowing sphere of blue hexagons.

To the Kirrix, John seemed to explode into action, hurtling across the room in a blur, his charge preceded by a sweeping arc of telekinetic force that obliterated every drone in its path. A handful of juggernauts managed to dig in, stabbing down with their bladed arms to anchor themselves in place against the blastwave, the black-plated monsters crying out as legs were torn from their bodies. One after the other, the juggernauts were then cut to pieces, hacked in half or smashed to the ground by blows of staggering power.

From John's perspective, he loped into battle, moving with calm and measured movements against a foe reacting in slow motion. He knew that the Kirrix had no chance of stopping him; it was like a swarm of garden ants trying to stop a mischievous child from demolishing their hive. However, that wasn't to say that the Kirrix didn't deserve to be slaughtered without mercy. After witnessing the tragic fate suffered by the Mhoirad, John was more than happy to wreak terrible vengeance on their remorseless killers. It wouldn't bring those innocent creatures back, but making the Kirrix atone for their unspeakable crimes appealed to his personal sense of karmic justice.

John strode up to a juggernaut and cut it down with an effortless one-handed strike, splitting the behemoth from head to abdomen in a gratuitous explosion of gore. He glanced at the mangled corpse as it lay twitching on the ground and had something of an epiphany. It actually felt... beneath him... to be personally slaughtering worthless beasts like this. He was starting to see why the other Progenitor stayed aloof from battle... there was no challenge in this massacre.

He thought about these strange feelings as he butchered his way across the vast hall. Had he really changed so much? It was only six months ago that he was desperately fighting for his life against Kirrix troopers inside a marauding hive ship. The alien invaders had seemed so terrifying to him and Alyssa at the time, but he now viewed them as pitiful and beneath his contempt.

John couldn't help wondering if he was losing any normal sense of perspective as he grew in power. To most species in the galaxy, the Kirrix represented a horrifying threat to their very existence, yet here he was, calmly slaughtering them as he assaulted their stronghold. Even more disconcerting was the fact that he was doing so alone... and the thought of asking one of the girls to accompany him had never even crossed his mind.

*Have you noticed me changing?* he quietly asked Alyssa, as he unleashed a force wave from his sword that annihilated scores of Kirrix troopers in a storm of dismembered limbs. *In the way I've been treating you and the girls, I mean...*

*You've been just as protective and loving as usual,* she replied, her voice soothing. *I'll say something the moment that ever changes.*

*I suspect this shift in perspective is linked to your growing strength,* Edraele said softly. *Which makes me wonder if this might be connected to your guide in some way.*

John decapitated a juggernaut with a sweeping backhand as he mulled that disturbing thought over. *You think he's influencing me somehow?* he asked with concern.

*I haven't felt anything like that!* Alyssa interjected, sounding alarmed.

*I didn't mean to imply that your guide was usurping control,* Edraele said, correcting herself. *Perhaps your change in outlook might simply reflect you having reached a certain level of... proficiency... with your Progenitor abilities?*

*So you're saying that I'm ready for the training wheels to come off?* John asked, bringing his sword around in a precise cross-slash, the runes flaring as a force arc blasted outwards.

*Do you feel like it's time to confront your guide?* the Maliri prompted him.

He paused and watched the glowing telekinetic projection carve a bloody green furrow through multiple ranks of Kirrix soldiers. *I do... in a way I haven't felt before.*

Alyssa hesitated for a moment. *Are you still going to wait until after we've visited Arcadia?*

John charged a Juggernaut and cleaved it in half with a whistling uppercut, the massive blow sending its broken body cartwheeling through the air. *I need to know what happened to my parents first. That question's been hanging over me for my entire life.*

*I understand,* Alyssa said with sympathy. *It won't be long now, just a few more days...*

He felt a thrill of anticipation at that thought, wondering what answers might be found on Arcadia. Jessica Blake's journey to that world had been an enigma for four decades and John could hardly believe that he was on the cusp of uncovering that mystery. When he first started searching for his mother twenty years ago, he never could have imagined the circumstances that would finally bring him deep into Kirrix Space.

Having not heard from his third matriarch for a while, John asked, *Jade, how are you doing?*

*Just fine, Master!* she replied cheerfully.

Despite the Nymph's best efforts, there was no mistaking the weariness pervading her telepathic voice. John concentrated on the image of her in his mind and saw that she'd been severely weakened, having suffered a number of vicious wounds.

*Why didn't you ask for help?!* he protested with a disapproving frown, pouring energy across their active connection.

The Nymph gasped as he rejuvenated her body, mending her damaged flesh in a burst of psychic healing. *I didn't want to disturb you,* Jade admitted, letting out a shuddering sigh. *You were thinking important thoughts and I wasn't in mortal danger.*

*Naughty girl,* John admonished her. *You know the last thing I want is you getting badly hurt.*

*I'm sorry, Master,* she said, sounding contrite. *But I have rescued all the children.*

John took a firm two-handed grip on his sword and disembowelled a staggering juggernaut with a brutal spinning chop. *That's fantastic news, honey. Well done!* he exclaimed, delighted to hear they were safe. *Are you evacuating now?*

*Yes, we're on our way out,* the Nymph replied. *Will you be joining us at the starport?*

*Soon... I've got some business to take care of first.*

Seeing no other signs of movement, John paused on the far side of the vast room, green ichor pouring off his soaked blade. He turned to look back across the enormous chamber and froze when he saw the scenes of utter carnage he'd left in his path. Thousands of Kirrix corpses lay in broken heaps, carpeting the floor with piles of mangled limbs and gutted bodies. Amongst that macabre vista, dozens of brutally shattered juggernauts loomed over their smaller brethren like gruesome onyx islands amidst a foul sea of sticky green blood.

John felt a shiver run down his spine as he glanced down at the gore dripping off his sword. He'd been lost in thought for most of the battle, yet he'd orchestrated a bloodbath that made the carnage on Khalgron seem like an unpleasant skirmish. With a troubled frown, he turned to the set of huge double doors that were centred in the far wall and did a startled double-take, gaping at them in astonishment. With the way they'd dwarfed the Kirrix troopers beside them, he could've sworn the doors were at least twenty-feet-tall... but the doorframe was now at head height!

Backing away slowly, his eyes widened in shock as he looked down at the tiny corpses carpeting the floor beneath his armoured boots. Now John finally understood why the Kirrix troopers had seemed so small and insignificant... he towered over them all... including the monstrous juggernauts.

Jade giggled with delight. *It took you long enough to notice, Master!*

*How long have I been like this?* he marvelled, gaping at the huge blood-soaked sword he clenched in his gauntlet. The glowing weapon must have been at least fifteen feet long.

*Since planetfall!* the Nymph replied, sounding elated. *You were magnificent!*

John groaned and glanced back at the tunnel behind him. *No wonder the colonists looked so freaked out!*

*You had no idea you'd grown like that?* Edraele asked softly.

He stared away into the distance as he remembered the feeling of serenity as he dropped to the starport. *No, not a clue...*

*This new ability raises an important question...* Alyssa said, her voice uncharacteristically sombre.

John blinked out of his daze, his expression grim. *What's that, honey?*

*Did everything grow three times as big?*

He couldn't help laughing. *You're incorrigible!*

*Well?*

Shaking his head with amusement, he replied, *Yes, of course.*

*I'm sure the girls will be fascinated to hear that little titbit...* Alyssa teased him.

*Little?* Edraele asked, feigning confusion. *At three times the size, he must be equipped with a weapon that would make a Largath feel inadequate...*

The three matriarchs dissolved into laughter, their raucous giggles echoing through his mind.

*I'm glad you find this so hilarious,* John said, smiling at their playful banter. He glanced down at his body with a look of concern. *Because I have no idea how I made myself grow like this, or how to go back to normal...*

Alyssa was quiet for a moment as she considered it. *Try taking a look at the compartments in your mind.*

He did as she suggested, realising how long it was since he'd last checked the metaphysical representation of his psychic capacity. To his astonishment, the number of mental compartments had increased exponentially. Passively running his enhanced strength had previously taken up a significant proportion of his mental prowess, but now it occupied less than a tenth. Keeping psychic speed in continuous effect took up nearly a fifth, as had enlarging his physical form, still leaving him with a huge potential for maintaining passive and active abilities. With a glance at his sword, blue fire curled up the blade, flickering with a dreadful hunger. Summoning those raging fiery elements still only took a fifth of his total capacity.

*You've been tempered in battle and grown strong, Master,* Jade said in a hushed whisper.

John stared at the eldritch flames in fascination, watching them writhe and dance along the length of the sword. The Kirrix blood had burned away and the gleaming weapon sparkled like a diamond as it reflected the ethereal light. Was he like the sword? Forged for combat, they'd changed after each fight, growing more powerful until they were both brimming with psychic potential. John studied the pristine Crystal Alyssium that formed the blade and a troubled frown marred his thoughtful expression. Unlike the flawless white sword, there was still a streak of darkness running through his soul...

He turned and strode towards the doors, gesturing with his left hand and sundering the glyphed portal with a telekinetic battering ram. The doors sheared off their hinges and crashed to the floor, the deafening boom echoing down the tunnel beyond. This part of the fortress was ancient, dating back thousands of years to the final days of the Mhoirad, when the Kirrix had extinguished every last member of that tragic species. The resin walls had warped with age, strange swirling patterns appearing in the ochre surface as the centuries had rolled by.

John walked down the gloomy tunnel, feeling the weight of ages that pervaded this place. This nest was a place of evil, where a benign civilisation had been systematically slaughtered to the point of extinction. He'd experienced fragments of the terror that the Mhoirad had felt as they'd been dragged down here and was tremendously grateful that Alyssa wasn't present to see the echoes of their misery.

There were no branches from this passageway, which continued downwards until it ended in another set of doors. These were covered in disturbing murals, the indecipherable nature of the strange pictographs eerily unsettling. He approached the huge portal and raised a hand to blast the doors off their hinges, but hesitated at the last moment. The air was fraught with tension and he sensed a substantial Kirrix presence in the room beyond.

*John... are you sure?* Alyssa asked quietly, hearing his pensive thoughts. *We'll be there later this evening... you don't need to do this alone.*

He gathered his will and modified his vision, the reinforced doorway turning insubstantial a moment later. John saw a fleeting flash of yellow-tinged hexagons then a glimpse of Kirrix guardians lurking within, but the dazzling auras of light from deeper inside the chamber obscured his ability to see more.

*Whatever's controlling the Kirrix on this world is in there,* he replied. *If I leave now, it could escape... and the Mhoirad deserve to see the Kirrix scoured from their homeworld.*

Alyssa didn't respond for a long moment and was obviously struggling with his decision. *Please be careful,* she requested, sounding scared.

John approached the sealed portal and could see the glimmer of a psychic shield interwoven with the doors. He studied the Kirrix barrier and wondered if there was a way to gauge the power of defences like this, but if there was one, he didn't know it. Channelling psychic energy into his sword, he watched the runes throb with power, their flaring radiance growing brighter by the second. When it was almost painful to look at them, he stepped towards the doors, bringing the sword up in a curving strike that unleashed a colossal telekinetic arc at its apex.

Wind howled around him as the yellow hex shield shattered, the doors bowing inwards as they were ripped from the walls and sent spinning away. Several red-armoured guardians were crushed by the aftermath of John breaching the barrier, doors flattening the unsuspecting warriors beyond. The blastwave annihilated more of them as it thundered across the ominous column-lined chamber before impacting the wall opposite and shearing off large chunks of brittle resin.

Although the dark catacomb of chambers was dimly lit, John could make out scores of guardians lurking in wait, with larger creatures skulking deeper in the shadows. The Kirrix were momentarily stunned by the doors being blown inwards, but they reacted quickly, charging towards him on all-fours as they dodged around the pillars. Their scythe-like upper limbs retracted, ready to impale this invader who dared to attack their inner sanctum.

John could see the eerie yellow crackle of eldritch energy surrounding those limbs and knew he must be facing a Hive Queen and her defenders. Driving the tip of his sword into the ground, he abandoned the melee weapon and reached for his Tachyon Rifle, bringing it up to his shoulder. The guardians were fast, but he was faster, psychically enhanced speed making them seem like they were wading through molasses. Flicking the rifle to burst fire mode, he followed the targeting reticle in his HUD and squeezed the trigger. His weapon barked as he fired a three-round burst, the hyper-accelerated bullets leaving golden trails as they blasted out of the muzzle.

Just as he expected, the first guardian was psychically shielded, but the runic penetrators hit the yellow-tinged hexagons and shattered them into a thousand pieces. With the shield down, the next two rounds hit the Kirrix square in the thorax, punching huge holes through its torso and vaporising its nerve ganglia. The guardian lost all coordination over its lower body and pitched over face first, legs jerking out of control as it collapsed on the floor.

"Bravo Dana..." John muttered under his breath, swinging the barrel around to aim at the next charging guardian.

Firing again and again, he mowed down the Kirrix defenders, not trying for any finesse with his shooting but simply aiming for centre mass. Each 30mm round had been imbued with such force that even a glancing hit blasted huge chunks from their crimson carapaces, the strike amplified further by Dana's destruction runes. The shock of those non-fatal injuries knocked the guardians down, leaving many writhing on the ground with half their chest pulverised by concussive force. John didn't have time to follow up with any kill shots though, not with dozens of the frenzied defenders still charging towards him.

A glance at his HUD showed his ammo counter flashing red and he fired a final burst at a Kirrix warrior, catching it in the abdomen as it leapt over piles of the fallen. The first round sundered its shield, then the following two hit it in the waist, disembowelling the creature and reducing it to two lumps of mangled flesh, blood spurting wildly in all directions. He tapped the button to eject the smoking magazine and slapped in another, backing away as more of the guardians closed on his position. Flicking to full auto, John held his finger down on the trigger, unleashing a deadly hail on the enemy as they closed ranks to rush through the doorway. Bullets pierced through the lead guardians and struck the shields protecting the ones behind, leaving them exposed to more of the streaking golden rounds.